New in the Carolina Room: School Collection

We are pleased to announce that the Midwood Elementary School Scrapbook is now available in the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room for our patrons to enjoy. The scrapbook dates from between 1940-1960, and includes newspaper clippings about the school, students, and staff members, as well as thank you notes to teachers, and a few group photographs. Midwood Elementary began as Lawyers Road School at 1817 Central Avenue in 1934. It reached its prime years during the 1950s with 1,000 students enrolled. By 1983, however, Midwood Elementary was falling into disrepair, and was closed. After a 1985 arson fire at Albemarle Elementary, seventy workers brought Midwood Elementary back up to code in three days so children could attend a relatively local school. Today, the former Midwood Elementary School houses International House, which provides a variety of services, including direct services such as foreign-language conversation hours, cultural events, citizen workshops, and legal services, to Charlotte’s growing international population.

This scrapbook provides patrons a look back at Midwood Elementary during its heyday. Clippings celebrate student and staff achievements, and thank you notes show how much Midwood’s teachers were appreciated. The photographs are unidentified except by teacher or overall group, so if you attended Midwood Elementary during this time, come in and see if you know who some of the people are! To learn more about Midwood Elementary, the Midwood scrapbook, and our other collections, please visit us at: http://www.cmstory.org/.

This post was contributed by Hannah Cox, librarian and archivist in the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room.